In various sports it is common to provide covers on footwear either for ornamental or protective reasons. In the sport of hockey it is particularly desirable to protect a foot of the wearer of a hockey skate from injury resulting from impacts of pucks being shot during game play. The portion of the skate boot which covers the top of the foot typically has poor padding or shielding to allow lacing of the skate securely against the foot of the wearer and to allow some flexibility to the movement of the foot of the wearer during use. Accordingly the limited padding provided at the top portion of the skate results in an area which is prone to injury.
The following prior patents relate generally to covers for various types of footwear.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,566,476 belonging to Bertrand et al. discloses a cover for being worn over a sports shoe which is not suited for mounting onto a hockey skate nor would it provide suitable protection to the top portion of the skate boot.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,234,230 belonging to Crane et al. discloses ankle and foot protective devices for attachment to a skate. The pads disclosed however are particularly cumbersome to attach and are quite bulky resulting in interference to the player's movements in a hockey game. In the course of a hockey game, skaters perform very intricate movements with their skates such as forward and backward cross cuts in which skates quickly brush by each other, and tight turns in which skates are parallel to each other but only slightly in front of the other such that an inside toe may touch the inside heel of the skate leading the turn. These movements are quick and tight as any hockey player could attest to. Adding what appears to be almost an inch of padding on each side of the skate would most certainly restrict if not make skating in a hockey game impossible.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,445,287 belonging to Garcia discloses a skate boot cover which functions as a thermal wrap designed for warmth and attachment to a figure skate. The device is not well suited for protective use in a hockey skate.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,806,145 belonging to Czeiszperger discloses a skate shoe guard for protecting a toe cup and an inner side of a skate for goalies in the game of hockey, however no protection is provided for the top area of the foot.
U.S. design Pat. No. 379,395 belonging to Aird discloses a bumper for a skate boot which provides no protection to the top area of the foot.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,021,663 discloses a protective cover for a hockey skate formed of suitably rigid protective material. The cover however is designed to extend over all parts of the skate boot which typically cover the foot, the ankle and the lower part of the shin bone. The skate thus requires hinging at the ankle area to provide for a natural skating motion. By providing protective material which fully spans the skate boot, this cover interferes with the hinging effect required in a skate boot as the hinging area typically required of a skate at a point approximately three eyelets down from the top of the skate is covered and prevented from functioning normally. Furthermore the cover appears cumbersome to attach to a skate to fully cover access to the laces of the skate.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,854,200 belonging to Hipp et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,829,170 to Lutz, Jr. disclose similar protective covers for hockey skates which cover over a top portion and both inner and outer sides of the skate boot as an integral protective member. Due to the wrap around configuration of the cover in each instance, the cover is not suited for adapting to various widths and sizes of skates but rather multiple different sizes must be manufactured for accommodating all wearers. Furthermore neither design attaches directly to the skate, but rather straps are provided for extending about various portions of the skate which are then anchored back onto the protective cover rather than onto a particular location on the skate. Accordingly any impacts during a hockey game as a result of pucks or contacts with other players or sticks for example may cause the protective cover to readily come loose and be rotated about the skate even if the straps for fastening are not released.
The cover to Hipp et al in particular requires awkward alignment of a lower portion of the cover to an under side of the boot so that that design does not lend itself to easy and quick attachment as desired. As hockey players may need to retie or remove a skate several times during a hockey game, the awkward attachment of the prior art protective skate covers would require too much time and be too cumbersome for repeated attachment and removal.
In the protective cover to Lutz, the multiple straps require awkward mounting onto the skate with multiple hands to both hold the cover in place while also strapping about the skate so as to be particularly cumbersome for attachment and subsequent removal from the skate.